Baby, its cold outside!

This morning the boys joined me in some "visibility" campaigning. We met a group of local supporters "uptown" and held signs and chanted and FROZE!

Andrew totally got into it. He started the chants and held the signs like a pro. He was so proud to be there!

Zachary is less than sure. Since Dad isn't sure who he is voting for Zachary has decided that he isn't either (not that they can actually vote, but they do come with us to the polls every year). He stood with us, but refused a sign.

We decided it was time to go when I could no longer feel my legs. On our trek back home Andrew kept screaming that his chin hurt - poor kid was frozen to the bone!

Monica would say I was brainwashing them and that is fine. More important than them voting the way I want them to vote is that they get out and vote period.

The following is from a blog I posted elsewhere:

In a 2002 study it was found the children whose parents take them to the polls are twice as likely to vote!

My father was involved in local politics when we were younger. He was on the school board for a number of terms and I remember him running for city council and holding a sign outside the polls at the ripe age of 13 (he wasn't elected - I still harbor resentment against the man that beat him...perhaps it is time to move on).

Before politicians paid to have professional signs made, he hand cut and painted enormous lawn signs for his friends that were running for office. In fact, he still has the "stencils" hanging on the wall in his barn.

He voted in the same building all 5 of us kids went to elementary school. Every election day he came and got one of us to head into the polls and vote with him. He never let me see who he was voting for, he told me it was "private". But he instilled in us how voting is a privilege that we are given and that as citizens it is our responsibility to get out and make an informed vote.

Each of us (my siblings and I) are registered voters. One of my brothers was a member or the "Young Democrats of America" - that same brother has been escorted from a city council meeting or two for voicing his opinions (or - as he says - the FACTS) a bit too loudly. My youngest brother (19) knows more about politics/government then all of us put together. He is a "hardcore" republican. He and I don't discuss politics much. We are both too opinionated and hardheaded. :)

Both of my young children come to the polls with me. I tend to alternate - although it is much easier to take my 7 year old since my 5 year old has the attention span of a mouse :)

Last year, at a local election, there were over 30 articles on the ballot. I was familiar with a few, but I had to read every single one to decide my vote. It took everything I had to keep my 5 year old out of the next booth :) But I know that when they are 18 they will be registered to vote.

So, you want your kids to vote? Take them to the poll! Talk to them about politics! Get them involved in any way you can! Show them you are informed and show them you care about your privilege to vote!